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Casinos live on their reputations of running an honest game. I guess "smart cards" can further that cause. But there's a risk that the opposite can occur.

All true, but when A) your entire business model relies on keeping those IDs hidden and B) you’re storing them on intentionally “promiscuous” media (RFID), it definitely increases the attack surface in a big way.

I’m sure this is a calculated risk, they probably feel confident in their ability to detect unauthorized attempts to read the tags.

Couldn't you just have serial numbers on the cards and check them at the end of the hand? Why an antenna that can be read at a distance through obstructions?

The RFID chips are there so that they can show exactly what everyone has during the hand. Televised poker is much more interesting when you know what cards everyone has.